MCStacker has been translated into German all thanks to the guys at alles-minecraft.de . Originally translations were only available for tool tips, but now most of MCStacker can be translated. This includes pages, labels, tool tips, buttons, error messages, and the items, status effects names, enchantments and more. To make this possible quite a lot of code had to change, but it was well worth the effort.

I have created a repository on GitHub containing only the files required for translation (not all of MCStacker). If you do not want to use GitHub, I can email you the required files. The main file you need is called lang.js. This file contains all of the variable declarations in English. The language file that you create contains a function called translateMCStacker(). This function assigns the translated text for each of the variables declared in lang.js. Look at the German translation file de.js as an example.

If this looks like something you are able to do, I would be happy to hear from you. You will need fluency in English and another language, good knowledge of Minecraft commands, and very basic coding skills. I recommend using Notepad++ for the text editor. Email me at bimbimma@gmail.com if you are interested . Unfortunately, I’m not able to offer any kind of financial incentive for this work. But I can offer a link back to a website of your choice from the translated page.

I get a email every week or so from people who are unable to get MCStacker to work in their browser. It has been hard to definitively pinpoint exact cause. But if you have been unlucky enough to be greeted with a JavaScript error, then read on because this article might be able to help you. The following are things you can try to get MCStacker to work for you.

Can jQuery be accessed?

MCStacker uses the jQuery library to do what it does. But if your browser can’t download the required jQuery library, MCStacker will not load. Can your browser access this file? If you are seeing a bunch of programming code in the tab you just opened, then that is a good start.

You can’t access the jQuery file? That’s interesting. You could try to access MCStacker with this special link: http://mcstacker.bimbimma.com/?jslocal=1. If this brings you success then it probably means that access to the default jQuery location is blocked for some reason. The special link uses a local jQuery file on the same domain as MCStacker.

Is JavaScript enabled?

MCStacker requires JavaScript to run. Most people have it enabled in their browser. You would need a good reason to want it disabled. You can check if it is enabled by visiting this website: http://www.enable-javascript.com/

Have you tried another browser?

Sometimes a browser can be compromised by malware or malicious plugins. Try switching to another browser. No Luck? How about disabling the plugins.

Still no luck? Time to read the logs.

This article tells you how to access your browser’s error console. What you are looking for are error messages in the console tab and network tab. Please Google the error messages you see to find solutions. Alternatively, send me screenshots of your console and network logs. I may be able to offer some assistance.

Somebody sent me a screenshot of their console log recently and what it showed were instances of the browser trying to access some content from a website domain ending with .info . These sites are notorious for hosting all kinds or malicious stuff. For some reason this was interfering with MCStacker and preventing it from working. The user in this case had Malware affecting their browser. I suggested that they install Malwarebytes to remove the malware. In this case it worked for them. If you see websites mentioned in the logs that look a bit suspicious, try running a Malware scan on your computer.

Too much interference?

There are three other instances of JavaScript on the page which prevents MCStacker working for some people. These are present to track page stats, show the Twitter widget and for displaying advertisements. I can provide you with a link to disable these other features. I do not wish to publicly share this link for obvious reasons. Advertising revenue is important to me and it provides me with the incentive to keep adding features to MCStacker. Please contact me for the link if all else fails. One recent change I have made is to prevent the Twitter widget loading by default. To see the widget, you have to click the button titled ‘MCStacker Tweets’. This should decrease the page load time a little.

Summary

As you can see there are many potential causes for MCStacker not to work. If any of these tips helped you, please let me know about it at bimbimma@gmail.com or twitter. Perhaps I can change a few things in MCStacker to prevent this from happening to others.

I’ve been coding in with Processsing for some time now. But when I learned that there was a JavaScript library for it (processingjs.org), I just had to make this game. I started it three weeks ago and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I’d like to keep enhancing it, but what I’d like to do next is to redo it in Java and make it multiplayer. Check it out at emoticonz.bimbimma.com

I received a call from the folks at “Quantum PC Support”. You might know them better as the Indian PC support scammers. Apparently they “detected” some kind of malware on my PC. I’ve had this call at least ten times and I usually hang up on them or say something smart like I’m using a Mac. But this time I decided to go through the process and see how they go about “rectifying” my PC.

First they get you to go to the Windows Event Viewer. You go to Start, Run, type in eventvwr and then click OK. They get you to click on System on the left hand side. Now click on the ‘Type’ Column header to sort them. Now they get you to scroll down to the bottom so that you can see all the warnings and errors. They ask you if you are aware of what the errors are all about. I said I did not know. In reality these errors and warnings are completely normal and nothing to be worried about. But to a novice PC user they could look suspicious. They told me that these errors were caused by malware and that these were responsible for slowing my computer down. Not to worry because they have a “solution”.

The Event Viewer

At this point I was put through to another person. They must have needed someone who could seal the deal so to speak. She introduced herself as Catherine Anderson from Quantum PC Support who is based in Auckland. If I needed to contact her again, the contact number was 09 973 5669. I briefly Googled this but the company is not based in Auckland and the number is fake.

Catherine asks me which browser I use. I say I use Firefox. They want me to go to their website www.qpcs123.com . But they must want me to access this with Internet Explorer. So she tells me to go to Start, Run, type in iexplore, then click OK. This is another way to start up Internet Explorer. However, I go to their website using Firefox (the safer browser) and am presented with a box to type in an Invitation Code that she gave me over the phone. This is presumably so Catherine can get her commission. Immediately after I enter the number and hit the Join button this box pops up.

Elisnore.ScreenConnect.Client

Here you have the option to save it or open it. They want me to open/run it. At this point I cancel out before I get in too deep.

And the conversation went a bit like this:

I have good knowledge with issues to do with computer security and there is no way that I am going to run this software you have got me to download.

Excuse me sir, what is the problem?

You want me to run this software but it has a Trojan in it and it will make computer accessible to hackers.

No sir you are wrong. You need to run this program.

No, I know what I doing. My computer is fine. It has no malware on it. I am not going to do this because it will infect my computer.

Why did you say that you did not know what all of the errors in the Event Viewer was about?

I went through the process so that I could learn more about this unethical business model so that I could blog about it and warn others.

Well if you are so smart why don’t you just Run it. You should know that nothing bad will happen”.

No thanks. So how did you know my PC had malware on it? How did you associate my IP address with my phone number?

They hung up. I had more questions to ask. But what I really want to know is why NZ landline providers are not blocking these calls. After some more Googling it turns out that Elsinore Screen Connect software probably wasn’t Trojan. However it would have allowed somebody to remotely control my PC. And once this was done anything thing could have ended up on it

I just finished my Android application which is Pong variant. It’s been uploaded it onto Google Play (formally the Android App Market). I started this project in February 2012 and have gotten it to a publishable state. It was good to learn something new and see it through to completion. The game is based on the Solo-Pong HTML5 canvas game that I created a while ago. There are a few differences like bonus items and the way it is played with a touch screen. The theme for the game is based around Jamaican dancehall rhythms(riddims) and the accompanying sci-fi sound effects . In Jamaican patios this is also known as bashment. Over time, I had created a few dancehall rhythms and this game provided a good outlet for this music to be heard. Seven of my rhythms are featured in the game and it seems to work out well with many of the familiar bashment sound effects. There are two versions available (free and paid). The free version is supported by ads and the paid version has no ads but costs $NZ 2.00.

I made this Pong game so that I learn some new skills. Particularley with the HTML5 Canvas Element. I also wanted to have a crack at learning some AJAX since I’d never really used it before. The game runs well in browsers that support it. Apparently it should work in Internet Explorer 9 when it comes out.

For a long time, the best score I could get was around 50 but then I managed to get 99 when will be really hard to beat. So have a go. You’ll need to log in so that your scores can be tracked. Click here to play Solo-Pong. Enjoy!!!

I had a big box set of old horror DVDs that hadn’t got round to watching yet. And on the computer, I had a few dark dubstep and dancehall rhythms. So I indiscriminately ripped some audio samples from a handful of the films and surgically spliced smashed them into some beats with a blunt instrument. The result was an unholy abomination of a mix that will take you on a wicked ride through a few horror subgenres. More info is at http://bimbimma.com/ripper/

Posted in Film, Music | Comments Off on Pyro Stunts – The Ripper – The Horror Mix

I’ve been seeing a few stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) images lately on the blogs so I thought I’d have a crack at it myself. But with an added twist, I have combined it with a fake tilt shift technique. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and my Photoshop skills are pretty average.

This image is made up of three exposures. One underexposed at shutter speed 1/1600. One overexposed at shutter speed 1/400 and the other in the middle at 1/800. I used the auto exposure bracketing feature on my wife’s Canon EOS 5D. The three exposures were then combined into a HDR image and tone mapped using Photomatix. By exaggerating the dynamic range, the detail in the image looks as though it was hand painted. Lastly the image was opened in Photoshop CS3 where a fake tilt shift technique was applied. The aim of the tilt shift was to create the illusion of a miniature model by blurring the immediate foreground, background and horizon but leaving the center of the image not blurred. As you look at the image you can imagine that you are looking at a photograph of a miniature model of AucklandCity.

This is another HDR of my backyard which is the first HDR I had attempted. It turned out pretty good. You can almost imagine you are looking at a ray-traced scene. There is no fake tilt shift on this one.

Posted in Stuff, Technology | Comments Off on Experiment in HDR with Fake Tilt Shifting.

The V 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking contest is creeping up on us again. It’s 16-18 of May to be precise. I’ve been involved in this for three years now and I’m always amazed at how much the films improve over the previous years. The part I play in our team (Fractured Radius) is to produce the music. 48 hours is a pretty tight deadline to try to write, shoot and edit a film and to then provide appropriate music for. So while the writing and shooting is going on, I’m on my PC composing music, stings or other sounds that will be added into the film during the editing.

What I like most about the contest is that you never know which genre your team will have to make a film for. Personally I would really like to get Horror or Sci-fi. As I have a the Arturia Minimoog V plug-in that will be ideal for this type of film. If you’ve heard the music on Planet Terror then you’ll know what I’ m on about. The genre that I would like to get the least would probably be musical. Only because I would have loads more responsibility in making the film work. You will never know how it may turn out. It could be a masterpiece.

Anyways if your interested in checking out the films that I’ve been involved in previous years, check out the links below.